


Endless Sky

by SolosOrca



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: High School AU, M/M, and dealing with depression Tezuka, angst with a fluffy-ish ending, implied aro Tezuka
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-21
Updated: 2017-05-21
Packaged: 2018-11-03 10:04:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10965000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SolosOrca/pseuds/SolosOrca
Summary: Tezuka's lost. Echizen tries to help





	Endless Sky

**Author's Note:**

> High School AU in that shinpuri never happened

It was a dream. One that Tezuka had always chastised himself for dreaming. Echizen should be clawing his way into the ATP World Tour, surrounded by genius coaches and fans, not enrolling in Seigaku High School.  
But there he was, sat amongst the new first years, looking bored.  
He shouldn't be here! Tezuka thought as he started his entrance ceremony speech as school council president. He'd had no issue in picking Echizen out from the crowd; those golden-brown eyes tunnelled into him, pinning him down.  
He tried not to look at him throughout the speech, his heart squeezing uncomfortably when he did hit eye contact and quickly had to pull his eyes away. What on Earth was Echizen trying to do? He knew it must have something to do with tennis and his shoulder twinged painfully at the thought.  
He finished his welcome speech as fast as he could, the last few minutes spent with his eyes glued to the back wall. Anything to avoid Echizen's intense stare.  
He couldn't avoid Echizen forever, no matter how far he kept away from the tennis courts. Not that he went near them nowadays anyway, they bought up too many painful thoughts and memories. He'd thrown himself into student council work and university applications to keep himself busy, but it just wasn't the same.  
Echizen was waiting for him in the student council office two days later, sat nonchalantly in Tezuka's seat.  
"Go home, Echizen," Tezuka almost snapped. He didn't need to see him, didn't need memories of the past.  
"Come to America with me," Echizen said.  
Anger bubbled in Tezuka's chest. "No. Go away."  
"Why aren't you coming to tennis anymore?" Echizen demanded, getting to his feet, sounding angry now that Tezuka wasn't giving him his way.  
"That's none of your business," Tezuka replied, grabbing Echizen's arm and pulling him to the door. Later, he'd be grateful to his friends left in the tennis club for not to spread around his dramatic history. Echizen had grown a lot since middle school, he was taller -almost reaching Tezuka's chin now- and much more muscular, all Tezuka could feel was pure muscle through the material of Echizen's gakuran. "Please leave."  
Echizen threw him a dirty look before stalking out. "This isn't over," he promised as Tezuka shut the door in his face.  
Tezuka wished it was.

Tezuka didn't see Echizen for the next few days, something he was glad of. He had no doubt the other boy was just creating another plan on dragging Tezuka back to tennis. It was useless anyhow.  
"Echizen's doing well," Fuji said one day at lunch. Fuji has stayed part of the tennis club as more of a formality and was now the vice captain to Inui's captain. "He keeps being angry though. He's such a teenager."  
Tezuka knew that Fuji could see right through him and all this talk about Echizen was just a way to get Tezuka to talk about the feelings Tezuka had repressed deep down inside himself.  
"He is 15," Tezuka said blandly, feeling as though a weight was being pushed down on his shoulders.  
"He was always so cute," Fuji continued and Tezuka couldn't quite tell if he was still part of the conversation or Fuji was just musing to himself. He hoped it was the latter. "I guess he still is. He was better when he was shorter though."  
Tezuka hummed to show he was half listening, mostly to keep Fuji talking about Echizen and not himself.  
"You should come and watch him play. Tezuka doubted that Fuji missed the way Tezuka involuntarily twitched at the question.  
"I'm busy."  
"Of course you are," Fuji placated him. "The offer's there, you know everyone would want to see you."  
Tezuka made a noncommittal noise and shuffled some papers, hoping lunch would come to an end sooner rather than later.

Echizen appeared a few days later.  
"I'm just dropping off a thing from class," he said before Tezuka could say anything.  
"What thing?"  
"I dunno, class trip suggestions or something," Echizen shrugged, putting the paper he'd been carrying on Tezuka's desk. Tezuka picked it up and moved it to his 'to do' pile. "I think it's going to be Kyoto and Nara."  
Tezuka nodded and Echizen remained stood there, not leaving.  
"I shouldn't have got angry before," Echizen said, "I'm sorry."  
If Echizen was apologising then Fuji had gotten to him. "What did Fuji tell you?"  
"How?" Echizen asked, taken aback.  
"Fuji's always worried about me," Tezuka said, finally looking up at Echizen properly. Fuji was right, he was still quite cute.  
"Are you dating him?"  
The question hung in the air, creeping into all the corners of the room, hanging over them both.  
"No," Tezuka said quietly. "I'm not interested in that."  
"In what? Dating or Fuji?"  
"Both." Tezuka replied, his temper had been so short lately and Echizen was beginning to fray it.  
To his surprise, Echizen looked glad. Normally people weren't gad when they found out that Tezuka's interest in dating had gone the way of his tennis skills.  
"You're busy, I'll go," Echizen said, a small smirk on his lips and Tezuka frowned. What was he thinking? Why was he smirking? It irritated him.  
"Do," Tezuka said before he said something stupid, like spilling all the feelings inside him.

"Sooo," Echizen said, trailing out the syllable. "Do you need a hand? I can teach you English whilst you organise budgets or something."  
"I'm fine, Echizen. I have the rest of the student council and you have tennis practice."  
Echizen shrugged, "I can quit."  
A bolt of lightning struck in Tezuka's gut.  
"You're wasting time, Echizen," Tezuka snapped, "I can't believe you're even here, you should be playing in international championships!"  
"You're not there, what's the point?"  
That stirred up a whole load of feelings that Tezuka didn't want to analyse or come to terms with. Didn't have time to. They would be repressed and there they'd stay. What was he supposed to say? 'I can't play tennis anymore'? And see the look of disappointment on Echizen's face as he left and never came back. Maybe that would be for the best. To let go of his stupid pride and tell Echizen the truth, to let him go back to the world of professional tennis. The world in which he belonged.  
"Come with me," Echizen said quietly, cutting through Tezuka's thoughts.  
"I can't, Echizen," Tezuka sighed. "You have to go."  
There was a flicker of something in Echizen's eyes, something like pity. It made Tezuka feel sick.  
"I'll go for today," he said, "but I'm coming back."

Tezuka couldn't sleep. He hadn't been able to sleep properly since, well, since his injury. Doubt and worry nagged at him in the darkness and when he finally managed to sleep he woke exhausted.  
Tonight was bad though, all he could think of was how much Echizen would hate him if he knew the truth. Would pity him and leave him. It had been so much easier when Echizen had been in America. He could pretend that Echizen would accept him.  
It hurt so much and it was all Tezuka could do not to cry. His shoulder ached, reminding him of everything. He buried his face in the pillow and tried not to think.

  
"Can we talk?" Echizen asked, poking his head around the door. "Just for 5 minutes."  
That didn't sound too bad. Although Echizen had been chipping away at him recently, finding new ways to worm himself inside the deep buried emotions and pry them out. Tezuka hated to admit it, but he somehow didn't mind Echizen doing it, although every chip into those emotions was also a chip against his pride. He shouldn't need Echizen to help him through, he should be strong and send Echizen away.  
"Fine," Tezuka said, putting aside the financial report of the tennis club Fuji had given him.  
Echizen took a deep breath. "You're not okay and everyone is worried about you."  
Tezuka's heart clenched and a wave of nausea flooded over him. "They shouldn't," he said curtly, "It's not their problem."  
Echizen rolled his eyes, "you're our friend and I don't care what you say, we all want you to be happy or whatever it is that's closest to that!"  
"Echizen, I-"  
"No, you're not gonna shut me down this time," Echizen said, barely unable to contain himself. Tezuka was again shocked at how he'd grown. Three years ago Echizen would have walked away, in the knowledge that Tezuka was too much trouble to help. "No one will tell me what's happening and it's annoying! You're all treating me like I'm 12 and can't handle it!"  
Tezuka kept his mouth shut, his eyes focused on the desk, keeping them far away from Echizen's burning ones.  
"It's your arm, isn't it?" Echizen asked, suddenly quiet, his voice almost quivering. "I didn't want to believe it, but that's it, isn't it?"  
Tezuka nodded slowly, still unable to meet Echizen's eyes. He hated himself. How could he be this weak?  
"Oh."  
That tiny voice broke Tezuka's heart.  
He forced himself to look up, dreading the disappointment on his face. How could Echizen see him as anything else?  
To his surprise there wasn't any. Echizen looked as he did when he was puzzling out how to beat a tricky tennis movie.  
"Come with me," he said, taking Tezuka's hand.  
Tezuka didn't resist.

Echizen lead him up to the roof. It felt like the first time Tezuka had felt sun on his skin for years, had seen the blue sky rising forever. The logical part of his mind, the part that had been very quiet recently, reasoned that it couldn't be true, that he'd been outside a lot recently, walking to and from school. But that was it, he'd only been outside to go somewhere. When was the last time he'd gone hiking? Or even for a walk?  
"Good, it's empty," Echizen said, turning to Tezuka. "Look at me. Please."  
Tezuka turned away from the endless sky and looked into the beautiful brown of Echizen's eyes. Had they always looked this stunning? With flecks of gold scattered amongst the chestnut brown.  
"Come back to America with me," Echizen asked again.  
"Echizen. You know I-" Tezuka started, his inner walls beginning to crumble.  
"You can't play tennis. I know. I don't care," Echizen said, grabbing Tezuka's head so he couldn't look away. "I need you with me."  
"Ech-" Tezuka choked back. The tears were on their way, all the ones he'd manage to keep inside since the doctor had told him the bad news.  
"Come on," Echizen said softly, leading him up to the wall and helping him sit as the tear poured down Tezuka's face.  
"Sorry," Tezuka sobbed and Echizen patted him on the shoulder.  
"You've held it in long enough," Echizen said, squeezing and gently rubbing his shoulder before pulling Tezuka close. "I'm not good when people are like this," he admitted, rubbing circled onto Tezuka's back.  
"You're fine," Tezuka managed between the sobs racking his chest.  
"Whilst you cry, I'll tell you my plan," Echizen said. "There's a college next to my training ground -it's a good one and they'd be mad to reject you- so you apply there and live with me. You can come and cheer me on at my matches then we'll come home and I'll cook -because I can cook now- and you tell me about what you're studying. I can hug you or whatever when you feel depressed and I can help you with your homework and not understand any of it. Is any of this appealing?"  
Tezuka nodded into Echizen's chest, "very," he admitted. He'd dreamt of this so many times, but he'd always been able to play tennis. In this reality he couldn't so how could his dreams be coming true?  
"Karupin will love you, far more than he loves me probably, and I know you're not interested in dating, but all I want is to be with you, I can be your queer platonic relationship partner or whatever."  
"My what?" Tezuka asked, laughing despite his tears.  
"When you said you weren't interested in dating I thought you might be aromantic so I googled it," Echizen explained. "I don't care what you are, I just love you. I have a friend who is too, so if you want to chat with her I can set you up. She doesn't speak Japanese though, so it could be weird. I can translate if you want though."  
"You're babbling," Tezuka said, poking Echizen's chest and sitting up, wiping the tears from his eyes. He felt better, lighter than he had done in years, like the tears had pulled his sadness out with him.  
"I love you," Echizen repeated.  
"I heard," Tezuka said. "I-"  
"Have no idea how you feel," Echizen finished for him. "I don't care if you never love me back, just as long as you're with me."  
"I care a lot about you," Tezuka said sincerely.  
"I know," Echizen said, flashing his patented bratty grin. "So," he started, "will you apply for that college and live with me?"  
"Echizen," Tezuka sighed, entwining his fingers with Echizen's. "Why did you come here?"  
"I was waiting for you and you didn't come," he explained. "Figured I'd come after you. You saved me before, in middle school. I'm not going to give up on you."  
"How do you know this will work?"  
"Because I never lose." Echizen's smug, overly confident smile never faltered.

**Author's Note:**

> Whether Tezuka is aro or not is up for debate, Ryoma just ran with it because he's Ryoma (He probably is, but he hasn't figured that out properly).


End file.
